Myr
by skarred
Summary: The digidestined are called into the Digital World once more as a new danger threatens the very existence of both digimon and mankind. A dark taiora. ^_^ what else did you expect?


Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon... and I don't know why I always have this tendency to state the obvious when it comes to disclaimers.  
  
Ok folks! Here's another fic to stall for time while I sit at home, plotting and scheming on the numerous ways to kill General Sohiko. If you're waiting impatiently for the third chapter of 'The Cry of the Dead', I'm really sorry but it'll have to be after my exams... I know what it feels like to be stuck at a disgusting cliffhanger for ages and ages... (I seem to meet those in all the fics I read)   
  
Actually I posted this fic up earlier on, but since many people didn't seem to like it and I received many negative reviews that got me really down, I decided to do something about it. (I take pride in my work. ^^) To make these unhappy readers happy again, I decided to cut out the gore and the deaths. (Some violent scenes seemed to bother people a lot...) Also, I added in the 02 characters to satisfy those ken-hungry readers. (I'm not mentioning any names to protect myself from future flames that will totally reduce me to ash) I tried to give every single character a part to play in this fic in order to please the general public and I even added in more details to the first section like Julia_ChildOfNight~ has advised me to do. In case you guys didn't realize, the man in Sora's dream was her dad. I thought that would have been kinda obvious, but maybe only I see it that way since I am the author and know what's going on. I did mention that Sora's mom and dad were dead at the end of the dream, so I thought you guys would have picked up that the man trying to kill Sora was her dad, and the person with her gun was Sora's mom. Yep, Sora's mom killed herself. I guess it was from the anguish of killing her own husband. To all the other confused readers out there, the ages are basically as such: Jyou is 20, Tai, Sora and Matt are 19, Mimi and Izzy are 18, TK, Kari, Davis, Yolie and Ken are 16 and Cody is 14. If I got any ages wrong, please inform me   
  
So, hope my reviewers enjoy this modified version. To all those new readers out there, in case you wanted to know... this fic WAS a really dark fic and I was heavily flamed for that... So now I modified it and it's more like a general/adventure fic. I managed to toss in plenty of taiora, takari and a little koumi. Hope you like.  
  
  
Once again, this fic is dedicated to all my favorite authors: lucia marin, artisan of the written word, logan, sora rau and olson. Luv ya all!  
5kaRreD.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The Myr  
  
By 5kaRreD.  
  
  
  
  
  
Trembling hands gripped the knife tightly. One strike placed correctly would end her life. He had to do this.  
  
  
The girl shrank back into the corner. Her back pressed against the hard, cold wall as she glanced up in terror at the figure looming over her. She was afraid of him. Afraid of her own father.   
  
  
Her bottom lip quivered slightly. She wanted to scream out, but found herself frozen to the spot.   
Something in her child mind told her to keep quiet... was it guilt? But she had done nothing...   
  
  
The figure was unsteady. Unsure. And she could sense it... he was afraid too. She looked up again at him, yet this time her eyes were different... they did not reflect any terror whatsoever... they reflected sympathy. Pity. This was painted in her ruby eyes as she watched the man.   
  
  
  
  
"DON'T LOOK AT ME!" The man screamed. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" The knife crashed to the floor with a sharp scraping of metal against concrete.   
  
The man backed away as though burned. He clutched his head as he screamed in agony. He could not bear those eyes... those soulful, puppy-dog eyes. They drove him close to insanity.   
  
  
'Once I get this over and done with, she'll be gone... everything will be just fine... just kill her...'  
  
  
Still trembling from his fit, the man stooped down to retrieve the steel weapon.   
  
  
The girl remained unmoving in her corner. She knew what was coming.   
  
  
  
  
  
Long ago, her mother had once told her of a creature born child of an angel and the devil. Though human in appearance, it possessed supernatural powers that surpassed that of the gods... and that was what condemned it to lead a life of solitude... being rejected by the human race. It tried often to disguise its powers... yet others would always be able to recognize it by its fiery red eyes and hair...  
  
It was called... the Myr.  
  
  
  
It was reality's sick sense of a joke. The unfairness of it all hit the girl as she struggled to retain the tears welling up in her eyes. Wasn't it funny? Water was supposed to extinguish fire. Yet her eyes were still the fiery red they had always been.   
  
She was cursed. It ran in her veins... the blood of the ancient species... the Myr...  
  
And that was why Sora's father hated her so much. That was why he wanted her life.   
  
  
  
No longer able to hold back the tide, the floodgates burst open as she began to sob silently. This seemed to encourage the man.   
  
He took a brave step towards her, knife poised above his head, glittering dangerously in the dim light of the room.   
  
A gunshot rang out, piercing through the night.   
  
The girl's father slumped onto the floor, knife clattering down beside his lifeless corpse.  
  
  
  
  
Where Sora's father had once stood, another figure emerged, this one slimmer and more shapely than the well-built man. Like the girl, the figure too possessed fiery red eyes, which sparkled like dancing flames behind heavy eyelids... her auburn hair licked her tear-stained cheeks as she looked down at the dead man.   
  
  
  
"Mama?"   
A faint glimmer of hope flashed in the girl's eyes as she recognized her savior.   
  
  
"I'm sorry, Sora..." The woman's voice trailed off as she cast a helpless look at the girl.   
  
The woman's ruby eyes locked onto Sora's.   
  
  
  
  
A second shot rang out.  
  
  
  
  
"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"   
  
The woman's motionless body lay next to her husband's. Blood gushed out from their wounds, spilling out onto the emotionless white floor.   
  
All was silent, but for the quiet sobs of a broken-hearted girl.  
  
  
  
********************  
  
  
  
"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
  
Sora bolted straight out of her sleeping bag. She was panting heavily as beads of perspiration dribbled down her trembling cheeks and dripped onto clammy hands. Those memories kept haunting her in her sleep... they had come as a flood of guilt and pain, nightmares of her past locked up in the deepest chambers of her heart. The images of her father swam through her head in a vast array of dull colors... one moment he was laughing, the next he was shouting... shouting at her.  
  
  
"DON'T LOOK AT ME!"  
  
  
  
Agonized, the copper girl grabbed her head, clutching fistfuls of her hair as the voice echoed in the dark recesses of her mind, refusing to fade away and leave her alone... his frightened eyes... his trembling lips... they tortured her when she slept. She had tried to wipe the image of her father as he yelled at her from her mind, but to no avail... on the contrary, it had come back more vivid than ever... She didn't know what the dreams meant, or why they had come about, and this scared her... it scared her more than ever before. Not even in her sleep could she be alone and escape from the pain. Again, that voice.  
  
  
  
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"   
  
  
Pain sliced through her heart like the sharp blade of a knife... slowly tearing her apart inside as she clutched her head in agony. Anything to make them stop. Anything.  
  
Her face screwed up in pain as she tried desperately to think of a solution, yet the loud confusion of mixed emotions swirled around in her head, blocking out all other thoughts but one...   
  
  
  
'Run... run away from the pain... from the harsh realities of life. Run to somewhere safe where no one will find you, and there will be no one to laugh or jeer at you. You don't need to struggle anymore, don't need to endure all the pain. Just run away...'  
  
  
  
And she did. Sora stumbled to her feet and ran deeper and deeper into the dark forests of the Digital World... normally she could have stopped to admire the beauty of the sleeping world, yet now she simply ran blindly past them with no idea of where she was heading... it was just all too confusing.   
  
Run. Run.  
  
  
Not looking where she was going, Sora tripped on a stone in her path. She fell to the ground with a soft thud, landing on her knees and palms. Her eyes widened in shock as she noticed a coppery red liquid seeping out from her torn palms and into the ground... she recognized it instantly as the very same liquid she had seen at the young age of 6, when her parents had been 'murdered in an armed robbery', or so the police had claimed.   
  
Blood.   
  
  
  
That brought back memories. Mom. Dad. Kneeling on the uneven forest path, Sora examined her hands closely.   
  
Blood.  
  
  
The thought reasserted itself in her head as she stared at the delicate flesh of her palms, now ripped open by the sharp pebbles strewn over the floor. She smirked to herself as an ironic thought hit her... it was the same color as he eyes and hair...   
  
  
"Sora!"   
  
  
Sora glanced towards the source of the voice. She could barely make out a dark figure jogging up the path towards her, wild hair streaming behind him as he reached the girl in three easy steps.   
  
  
"Where were you? I woke up and found you gone... do you have any idea how much you scared me? I didn't dare tell the others in case they got worried... what were you thinking?" The boy looked at her through eyes full of pain and worry. They softened as he noticed her tear-stained cheeks and puffy eyelids.  
  
  
"Come on, get up." He offered her a hand, but she refused.   
  
Taichi shrugged his shoulders in defeat. No one could move Sora if she didn't want to get up, he knew that from experience.   
  
  
  
"You leave me with no other choice..." The bronze boy sighed and bent down and snaked his strong arms around Sora's thin frame. Sora's eyes widened in shock as she saw felt herself being lifted from the ground. A pinkish hue invaded her soft cheeks as she felt herself blush furiously at the boy's actions. Sora was about to protest, but one glance at the serious expression etched into the boy's handsome features silenced her instantly.  
  
  
He brought her to the lake in which the group had bathed but hours earlier, before retiring.  
  
  
It lay before them, a shimmering reservoir of tears in the dark and gloomy mass of trees. This was what Sora had always loved about the Digital World, it just seemed so perfect and untarnished... a fairy tale in which she could escape from the harsh realities of her life...  
  
  
  
Tai gently deposited his delicate bundle onto the ground and turned to face the girl.  
  
  
His pained expression became loving when he turned to face his best friend. "Tell me. What's wrong?"  
  
With a sigh, Sora related the night's events to the concerned boy. "Tai... it's really bothering me. I don't know when I started having these memories of my past, but they just keep entering my dreams... I... I don't dare to sleep anymore..."  
  
  
  
Tai nodded understandingly. "I have nightmares too."  
  
  
  
  
"NO! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT FEELS LIKE, TO BE BOTHERED BY YOUR PAST, TAICHI!!!!!!! YOU HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA!" Sora's sudden outburst shocked Tai... he had never seen his best friend this angry before.   
  
  
Sora reverted her gaze to the lake. Why could no one understand? They rejected her... just as her mother had told her long ago...  
  
"Sora, never trust anyone. Humans are crafty and ungrateful beings... they will turn on you when you need them most. Remember, our race is hated. They will do anything to purge us from the world. Don't trust anyone."  
  
  
  
Tai looked at her sadly. Her eyebrows were knitted together as she frowned at the tears welling up in her eyes. If only she would open up to him, then he would be able to comfort her, love her.   
But she kept all her troubles bottled up in her, refusing to let him into her world of pain and suffering.  
  
"Sora, tell me what's wrong."  
  
  
"You wouldn't understand."  
  
  
"Tell me."  
  
Sora shook her head irritably. "I told you, you wouldn't understand. You don't even know who I am... what I am..."  
  
  
Tai grasped Sora's cold hands in his own. "Sora, I'm your best friend. You can tell me..."  
  
  
"Not now."  
  
Tai sighed once again.   
  
"Let's go back."  
  
  
********************  
  
  
"Greetings Digidestined."  
  
The group of teenagers growled in response. It was 9am in the Digital World. They were hot, they were tired, and the last thing they wanted was to receive another mission to save the world.   
  
  
Gennai continued in his normal upbeat attitude, oblivious to the death stares the Digidestined were shooting at him. "We have a problem."  
  
  
"Tell as something we don't know." Matt snarled, his voice dripping with sarcasm.  
  
"A new danger has surfaced in the Digital World..."   
  
Davis snorted. "And it is our duty to eliminate this threat and save the world, right? We know the drill, Gennai. Just get to the point."   
  
  
  
"This time it's serious."  
  
"And all our other missions weren't?" TK mumbled.  
  
"Stop fooling around guys!" Izzy yelled. "Can't you see that this is important?"  
  
  
"Thank you, Izzy. Anyway, this new threat is in the form of a monster... the essence of evil itself. I can't very well give you a description of the creature, as it is not a digimon. All I know is that it is highly dangerous and must be stopped immediately."  
  
  
"Why so, Gennai?" Sora questioned. Her smooth forehead was wrinkled as she contemplated what was coming.  
  
  
"The monster kills. But unlike most of your previous enemies, it kills without reason. The monster takes joy in killing thousands of digimon a day, then devouring his prey like a ruthless predator.   
For all you know, it might have destroyed some of your own digimon as well..."  
  
  
The teenagers gasped. True, they had not found their digimon yet, having just arrived in the Digital World two days ago. What if...?  
  
  
"This creature cannot be stopped. That is, by using force. But do not lose hope. There is a rumor of an ancient prophecy, capable of calling upon an ancient power that will destroy the monster.   
You have to use this loophole to destroy the monster before it wipes out the entire Digital World and enters your realm. It is not impossible."  
  
  
  
  
The Digidestined remained silent. There was nothing to say.  
  
  
Only Yolie spoke up.  
"G... Gennai... what is the prophecy?"   
  
"I don't know myself. It might be just a myth, based on the fantasies of those unwilling to die. It is whispered amongst the digimon... that on the walls of a cave... the very same cave in which the   
Myr was born... you do know about the Myr don't you?"  
  
  
  
  
Sora's eyes widened at his words. She was about to open her mouth and speak, when she was cut off by another voice.  
  
  
"Yes, Yes! Just carry on..." Tai said with a hint of impatience in his voice.  
  
"Anyway, on the walls of that very cave is carved an ancient prophecy that might be the key to stopping this monster... preventing the Armageddon. Of course, there is no proof that this is true, but it's the only way of defeating the monster."  
  
  
"Who would have thought that that freak Myr would have done any good to mankind?" Matt joked.   
  
  
Sora scowled at Matt. "Don't be so prejudiced."  
  
  
  
"Well, that's all I can do for you, destined. The rest of the tale is for you to tell..."   
  
  
"Wait! Gennai! Can't you at least tell us where these caves are?" Tai asked desperately.   
  
The fading form of Gennai seemed to mouth some words to the destined, but no sound was heard as the old man faded away into the grim brightness of the morning light.  
  
  
  
"Shit." Matt swore.   
  
  
"What was that? 'Tomorrow's a swirl'?" Kari wondered aloud.  
  
  
  
"No... looked more like 'give it a wirl'." TK said.  
  
  
"Neither of those make sense. I think he said 'follow the girl'." Joe said matter-of-factly.  
  
  
  
"And that would mean..?" Matt questioned.  
  
  
"I don't know. Maybe he's telling us that one of you girls know the way to the caves." Izzy answered best as he could.  
  
  
  
  
"But we don't," Mimi protested, "do we, girls?"  
  
  
  
Both Kari and Yolie shook their heads profusely.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Sora?" Tai looked at Sora hopefully.   
  
  
  
  
  
"I'm not sure..."   
  
  
"Well that's better than nothing. From now onwards, we follow Sora!" Tai turned to Izzy. "Izz, Li, you'd better try and find as much information as you can on the Myr. It could help."  
  
"No prob. Give me an hour."  
  
The Digidestined went about their business, leaving the two computer geniuses to do the research.   
  
  
  
  
Yolie brushed a straying strand of violet hair away from her face, clearly frustrated.   
  
"NOTHING! NOTHING! WHO WAS THE USELESS SCUM WHO INVENTED THE INTERNET IN THE FIRST PLACE?!?!" The purple girl roared as she clawed at her thick hair. With a despairing sigh, she flopped onto the ground, pushing her maroon laptop as far away as possible.   
  
Her tone softened as she looked at the perplexed boy next to her... he typed away furiously on an bright yellow pineapple laptop, occasionally casting hopeful glances at the screen, then returning his gaze to the mistreated keyboard.   
  
"Come one Izzy... give up already!"  
  
"The fate of two worlds rest upon our shoulders, Li. We can't just abandon our friends and family in their time of need... I know we can do something to stop this monster from tearing the worlds apart..." Izzy chanted, without reverting his intent gaze from the computer screen.  
  
  
"Yadda yadda yadda... Izz, you never know when to give up, do you?"  
  
"Not until I finish hacking into Microsoft. They might have some program or information in their system that might be useful to us... you never know..."  
  
  
"Yes I do, and I'm telling you it won't work. What the hell did Bill Gates know about the Myr anyway? Like that's worth wasting disk space on."   
  
Yolie's pessimistic ramblings were abruptly interrupted by a sudden cry from Izzy.  
  
"PRODIGIOUS!"  
  
  
"What? What is it?" She inquired, scrambling to get a look at the laptop.  
  
"I JUST WON A TOTAL SUM OF $100,000 IN CASH FROM THE 'SHOOT THE MONKEY' CONTEST!" Izzy squealed as he threw his hands up in joy. "YES!"  
  
  
The bespectacled girl grimaced and turned away, shaking her head sadly as she suppressed the urge to strangle her friend.   
  
'Too much exposure...'  
  
********************  
  
  
Left without any information whatsoever as to where to start, the Digidestined where left with no choice but to rely on Sora... they knew their chances of stopping the monster, or even finding the cave of the Myr, where pretty slim, yet they were getting desperate. The monster had to be stopped soon, and they were the only ones capable of stopping it...  
  
  
  
  
"Okay Sora. Where to?"  
  
Loaded with heavy backpacks, hair matted with sweat, the Digidestined looked at Sora in question. They trusted her so deeply. After all, she was the one that took care of all of them, just like a mother. She comforted them when they cried, spurred them on when they had given up hope, fought desperately when they had needed her help... and they loved her for that.  
  
'But they don't know what I am.'  
  
  
Sora shook off the thought. If they had known what she was, they wouldn't have trusted her at all.   
But that didn't matter at all... as long as they didn't find out...  
  
  
  
  
"This way." Sora motioned to a path as she began to lead them deeper and deeper into the forest. If only they knew how unsure she was.   
  
  
  
  
  
The Digidestined toiled along the uneven forest path, stumbling occasionally on stones and potholes. They did not speak. The only sound heard was the exhausted pants of the teenagers, and the occasional "shit" as someone tripped on a pebble.  
  
By nightfall, they had reached a clearing in the mass of dark, gloomy trees. Everything seemed to go uphill from there.  
  
  
"Okay people! Set up camp!" Tai ordered as he reassumed his position as leader.   
  
  
The teenagers set out to work without a word. There was no question as to what was to be done. They had easily adapted to the surroundings of the Digital World after their 7 years of absence. Much had changed, though. Instead of the usual friendly atmosphere, a cloud of impending doom fogged the minds of the Digidestined... it was as though they had lost already. Every one of them had accepted the mission readily, yet it was obvious to them they had done nothing more than take up a losing battle.   
  
They slept uneasily.  
  
  
  
********************  
  
  
Tiny fingers grasped the stalk of the plant and pulled. The flower was uprooted easily and the girl added it to her bouquet of red flora.   
  
  
She arranged the flowers into a neat bundle and tied the bundle with a long blade of grass.  
  
  
  
"Daddy! Daddy!"  
  
  
A man came into view. He was tall and well built, quite attractive. But his eyes were different. They were gray and clouded, unlike the girl's happy red ones.   
  
  
He cringed as she called him.   
  
  
"Go away."  
  
"But Daddy! I have something for you!"  
  
  
"I don't want it."  
  
  
"Daddy! I got them especially for you!"  
  
  
The bouquet was thrust into the man's face. He could smell the fragrance of the freshly picked flowers filtering into his nostrils. The putrid stench.  
  
  
"I don't want them."  
  
The girl seemed discouraged by this comment.  
  
  
  
"But Daddy... don't you think they're pretty? Red flowers are pretty."  
  
  
  
  
"Red? Red? Do you know what red is?" His voice rose as he screamed at his daughter. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT RED IS? IT'S THE DEVIL! THE DEVIL! YOU'RE THE FUCKING DEVIL! GET AWAY FROM ME, BITCH!"  
  
  
The girl looked pleadingly at him. Her ruby orbs seemed to clamp around him, begging him to accept her gift...  
  
  
Smack.  
  
  
The man's hand connected with the girl's cheek in a furious display of strength, sending the child sprawling onto the ground. The mutilated flowers littered the ground as a pool of red... the earth was bleeding.  
  
  
  
********************  
  
  
  
Sora awoke with a start. Those dreams again... she touched her cheek with long, soft fingers. The dreams were so real... she could almost feel the stinging slap on her cheek.   
  
  
  
It was nearly dawn now. Time to pack up.   
  
Usually, it was the duty of however was taking night patrol to wake the others. Wasn't it her turn for night patrol? Then how...  
  
A faint snore knocked the girl to her senses. A slim, yet muscular figure was crouched beside her.   
She smiled.  
  
  
  
"Hey Tai, wake up!" Sora prodded the sleeping boy in the side so that he tipped over and fell onto the ground.  
  
"Wha.. Wha? SHIT! I must have fallen asleep..." Tai mumbled. He obviously wasn't properly awake yet.  
  
  
"You know, you should be entered into the Guiness book of world records as the only person who can sleep squatting down..." She joked.  
  
"Yeah... whatever..."  
  
  
  
"Why didn't you just wake me up? It was my turn to patrol."  
  
"Just didn't want to disturb you beauty sleep." Tai laughed.   
  
  
"That's not important. What really matters is that I would have done a better job of keeping us safe." Sora smirked.  
  
  
  
Taichi returned it with his famous lop-sided grin.   
  
"Stop flattering yourself."  
  
  
She rolled her eyes at the comment. "Shut up, Kamiya."  
  
  
********************  
  
  
Foot before foot. One, two. One two.  
  
  
The golden fog was everywhere as the merciless wind blew up clouds of sand into the air, tossing the grains around in intricate patterns... weaving them into a rich tapestry against the clear blue sky.   
  
The glittering sand pelted him, stinging his cheeks like a downpour of needles, puncturing his burnt skin, rubbing it raw. He swallowed audibly, trying to get some moisture down his parched throat, only to take in a mouthful of sand. The load on his back seemed to get heavier with each step... dragging him down to the ground so that he was practically crawling on his knees...  
  
  
Three, Four.  
  
  
The heat was unbearable. The sun hung in the cloudless sky, a blazing ball of fire beating down mercilessly upon the tired group of teenagers...   
  
  
  
Five, Six.  
  
  
  
The sand dunes rose up one after the other as mountains... an endless sea of glittering gold waves stretching off towards the horizon...   
  
  
  
Seven, Eight.  
  
  
  
  
TK glanced sideways at Kari. The girl looked at the point of collapsing. He desperately wanted to rush to her and swoop her into his arms... he wanted to comfort her, tell her that everything was alright, that they would live through it all...   
  
  
  
"You OK Kar? Need any help?"  
  
  
"Don't worry about me. Help the others..." Kari croaked.  
  
  
'She pretends to be so strong, putting on a determined front for all of us to see... but inside, she's just a little girl. Scared. Nervous. Shattered. To see her wallow in her own pains... it kills me inside. I wish she would talk to me, let me share her sorrows and fears... but she keeps them caged up inside her, being brave in order to spur the group onwards. And that's why... I love her.'   
  
  
  
Every breath she took was ragged, every swallow burned her up inside and scratched her throat dry... the only thing that kept her going was the need to prove herself to TK. She wanted to show him that she was capable, independent... she wanted him to stop worrying about her.   
  
  
  
"TK?"  
  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
  
"We'll live through this, you and I together."  
  
TK smiled for the first time in days. "Yeah."  
  
  
  
All thoughts were forced aside as a sudden cry from the front of the group shocked the two friends.   
  
"HEELP!"  
  
It was Cody.  
  
  
Flinging off the combined feelings of thirst, heat and exhaustion, TK and Kari rushed to the front of the group where the remaining teenagers stood.   
  
They were huddled around a peculiar indent in the sea of sand, throwing out words of advice and encouragement into the pit. The formation was quite astonishing, Izzy observed, as this type of hollow in a desert was very liable to be filled in with sand. It was amazing that the walls of the hole could actually support the heavy waves of sand without caving in. And Cody was stuck in the center of the formation, a tiny dot embedded into the soft quicksand, which formed a murky black puddle, contrasting greatly with the light gold hue of the desert sand.  
  
  
"Keep still! I read this story in which a horse was stuck in quicksand and managed to get out by keeping his body still and yet swimming towards the edge with his legs..." Mimi yelled out hopefully into the deep pit.  
  
  
"I'M NOT A HORSE, DAMMIT! Oh god... I'm up to my knees now... this is no joke!" The sinking boy nervously squeaked out, trying to keep his cool and remain still at the same time. The boy had grown much since his last adventure in the digital world... surprisingly, he was already an impressive 1.7m, a responsible youth of 14. Yet now, he was losing his head as he felt the sucking force of the sticky puddle pull him down... if they didn't do anything, he would certainly be engulfed in this horrible mass of black quicksand and die a horrible death...  
  
  
He began to panic. Flailing his arms about in a frantic attempt to swim out of the quicksand, Cody was ignorant to the fact that he was sinking deeper and deeper into the treacherous sand.  
  
"If my presumptions are truthful, I may correctly assume that this is the lair of a type of desert digimon, more formally known as Scabmon... it is famous for its ingenious method of trapping its victims and rendering them helpless, of which an example can be seen before you. I believe, as my calculations never fail me, that the Scabmon builds a protective wall around its lair to hold up the desert sands by, if you can call it that, spinning a transparent and thin, yet unbelievably strong film of saliva. That's basically it. It should be arriving on the scene soon, as the smell of prey has probably attracted its attentions. Now we will get to observe a first-hand account of the feeding habits of this truly gifted and intelligent creature."  
  
  
"IZZY!"   
  
The red-haired boy turned to the source of the voice, only to look into the eyes of a very angry Mimi. Astonished, he couldn't help but ask what was wrong.   
  
  
Mimi clenched her fists, knuckles turning white as the girl tried to suppress her exasperation at the innocent-looking boy before her. "WHY DON'T YOU TELL US SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE, LIKE HOW TO RESCUE IORI? WE WOULD APPRECIATE THAT VERY MUCH, THANK YOU."  
  
  
The truth dawned upon the computer genius as his mouth formed a perfect O. "Ohh... frankly, I have no clue..."  
  
  
"GUYS!!" Cody was already up to the waist in the black muck. He had ceased his fruitless attempts to swim his way free, as they only made him sink deeper and deeper into the Scabmon's trap. His fear was further alleviated as he observed grains of sand beginning to fall off the shaking walls of the pit... something was coming... something big.   
  
"I THINK IT'S COMING!!" He yelled nervously.  
  
  
  
Davis fidgeted at the edge of the pit, fighting the urge to jump in and rescue his friend. Even if he did do so, he would only succeeded in making the precarious situation even worse... the quicksand covered every inch of the expansive pit, and no doubt he too would get sucked into the monster's lair if he jumped in. He had grown up much- from an impulsive boy, always rushing headlong into critical situations and facing mortal peril with a second thought, to a more mature and thoughtful boy. The tan boy racked his brains for a solution to the evident problem they all faced now... he needed to find a way to get his friend out alive, without bringing harm upon the whole group.   
  
  
  
A roar of sand ensued as a dark figure appeared from beneath the waves of sand, shaking grains all around as a dog shakes its coat to dry itself. It possessed two sharp, threatening claws of enormous proportion and a tough, impermeable shell protecting its vulnerable body of soft flesh. With a single beady eye, it examined its prey warily before scuttling closer, inch by inch.   
  
"Get away from me you freaking monster! Scram!" Cody spat at the Scabmon... yet he knew it was useless to taunt a dumb beast, let alone discourage it. He contemplated his impending doom with a sense of irony...  
  
'I always did love shellfish...'  
  
  
  
The teenagers panicked as they discussed a possible method of rescuing their friend.  
  
"We could swing down a rope and haul him up..." Jyou suggested as he removed his sweaty spectacles and began the arduous task of cleaning them with his shirt, and action the scholarly youth always performed when in deep thought or when frightened.  
  
  
"No. I think it would be more feasible if we found a way to kill the monster first, then save Iori." Tai commented.  
  
  
"But we have no digimon, nor do we have any weapons, Tai." Kari whispered out the unavoidable truth they had been hiding from all along.  
  
  
None of the Digidestined noticed Davis standing a little further off, frantically pressing buttons on his D3.  
  
"If this device can pick up distress signals from our digimon, I don't see why it shouldn't work the other way round... damn thing, work already!" He muttered, beads of perspiration collecting on his dark forehead. "There... I can only hope this works, genius..." Pressing one final button, the D3 lit up, displaying a map full of moving red dots. He located their position without much difficulty, a mass of red dots cluttered around a single red dot representing the rapidly vanishing form of Cody and a bright blue dot, indicating the location of the Scabmon. To his joy, he spotted three more luminous dots moving towards the huddled Digidestined.  
  
  
  
  
"Yes! I just hope they can get here on time..." Daisuke turned to his friends... he had not informed them of his plan, for fear of raising false hopes. They had begun doing everything in their power to slow down the advance of the Scabmon- mainly, throwing stones at it. The hard objects simply rocketed of its thick shell with loud 'ping' noises. Bending down to retrieve a small pebble lying in the sand, he too tossed it at the digimon in hope of slowing it down.   
  
Cody was up to his shoulders now.  
  
  
Unfortunately, the shower of rocks and pebbles of all kinds did not in anyway deter the monster from reaching its prey... step by step, the Scabmon approached Cody. Nature had enabled the monster to glide along in the sticky substance without sinking or drowning, and it slowly traveled towards the stuck boy, waddling slightly awkwardly through the quicksand.   
  
  
"This would be a good time to arrive..." Davis muttered nervously as he cast a quick glance at the horizon. Nothing.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Yes, that's it. I actually continued a little further on but decided to stop the story right here for suspense... hehehe. This story is a little draggier than before (quite evident). I haven't got to the part about the actual monster yet, but that will come in time. This is just to satisfy all the readers against my previous exclusion of the 02 digidestined and against me killing of Jyou. Hope you guys are more satisfied with this version, it was really painful deleting off the old one... so r&r if possible!   
5kaRreD.  



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